In reverse engineering, one of the main tasks is reconstructing the mechanical properties of used materials. For an isotropic material, it could be defined by a single tensile test using a coupon extracted from the structure. In contrast, CFRP composites require many tests and complex procedures to define all the material properties because CFRP is an orthotropic material and a stacked laminate. In this paper, the procedure to reconstruct composite material properties is studied by using the classical lamination theory and the test data of three different laminates from a composite structure. A sample reconstruction of composite material properties using a composite car body is introduced to verify the method.

In the present study, the low speed (4 km/h) crash behaviour of an aluminium bumper system was characterised by FE analyses based on the FMVSS 581, which regulates automotive bumpers. Two types of cross-sectional designs, i.e., Model 1, which contains a single rib and Model 2, double ribs, have been considered along with Al7021, 6082 and 6060 for the aluminium bumper back beam. Variations in thickness starting from 2 to 4 mm of the bumper system cross-section in the FE model was implemented in order to investigate the thickness effect on the bumper's crash behaviour.. Three kinds of design variables, namely, number of ribs, material and thickness, are considered. The FE analysis results are summarised with the maximum load and the Specific Energy Absorption (SEA) since they are the key factors in determining the crashworthiness of automotive structures. The results may also be able to indicate how to achieve lightweight structure of the automotive bumper system either directly or indirectly.

In this paper, a simulator hardware and control design for an electronic parking brake (EPB) are proposed for emergency vehicle braking when the hydraulic break and anti-lock brake systems (ABS) fail to function. EPB systems are designed specifically for park braking and are usually installed on the rear wheels. However, in an emergency situation when all vehicle brake systems fail, the EPB can be utilized to stop the vehicle and track the target slip ratio as the ABS. This paper analyzed the non-linear EBP of the type of motor on caliper (MoC) based on experiments. A simulator hardware is also designed to validate the performance of the designed EPB controller in terms of braking distance and performance in tracking the target slip ratio. Through the experimental analysis, it is confirmed that a sliding mode controller can be applied on a non-linear EPB to track the target slip ratio.

The vehicle stabilizer link is one of the suspension components that reduces the bumping and rolling during vehicle driving. However, this stabilizer link could be a source of the abnormal noises when its free gaps have higher than normal values. Therefore, the current study aims at investigating the quantitative relationships between the abnormal noises and free gaps of the vehicle stabilizer links, as well as the length of time that the vehicle stabilizer links could be used without generating abnormal noises. In this study, the abnormal noises were measured based on the magnitude of the stabilizer link vibration, while the free gaps were quantified through the force-displacement curves of the stabilizer links. Harsh durability tests were also conducted in order to quantify the operating cycles of the stabilizer links before generating the abnormal noises, along with the concomitant measurements of the free gaps. The current results showed that the abnormal noises of the stabilizer links were detected when its free gaps were larger than 0.12 mm. However, the free gaps of the stabilizer links, which are bigger than 0.1 mm, produced the abnormal noises at 1.5 million cycles under harsh durability test conditions. A parametric study in the future that would reflect the different shapes and sizes of the stabilizer links for diverse vehicles could determine more generalized relationships between the abnormal noises and free gaps of the vehicle stabilizer links.

The use of engineering plastics in automotive components is increasing with the trend towards improving the car strength and reducing weight. Among the different choices of materials, engineering plastic emerged as the necessary material for achieving lower costs, reduced weight and improved production efficiency. To produce the automotive parts, it is important to predict defect and validation of injection molding prior to design. Injection molding analysis and structural analysis are widely applied as a part of the design process when developing automotive parts. Injection molding analysis, in particular, involves a highly complicated mechanism that requires deep knowledge of polymer properties as well as an analytic approach different from that used for a general isotropic material when the molded material is used as a structural material. This is because the parts made of polymer have pre-stress factors such as intrinsic deformation and residual stress. The most important factors for injection molded plastic products are injection molding condition and cavity design, taking into account ease of molding, mass production and application. Despite optimal injection molding conditions and cavity design, however, glass fiber orientation is critically linked to strength reduction. The application of injection molding and structural coupled analysis provides a low-cost solution for product molding and structural validation, all prior to the actual molding. The purpose of this study involves the validation, pre-study, and solution of defect in injection-molded polymer automotive parts using the simulation software for injection molding and structural coupled analysis. Finally, this thesis provides validation of an injection molding and structural coupled analytic mechanism that can demonstrate the effect of glass fiber orientation on mechanical strength. Design improvement ideas for the injection molded product of PPS (Poly Phenylene Sulfide)+40% glass fiber are also suggested.

A study has been conducted to develop an aluminum EGR cooler for the LPL EGR system of a diesel engine. Aluminum has a much lower density and thermal conductivity that is about 12 times or more than that of stainless steel, so it is advantageous for use in an EGR cooler for weight reduction and cooling performance effects. A design process has been carried out to ensure heat dissipation performance in a restricted space to investigate the geometric parameters and satisfy the requirements for pressure drops at both fluid sides. The tubes of exhaust gas have been designed as extruded tubes. An aluminum EGR cooler consisting of extruded tubes entails a simpler manufacturing process compared to a stainless steel EGR cooler with conventional heat transfer fins. A prototype has been manufactured from the final model selected through the design process. The performance of the aluminum EGR cooler was evaluated and compared with that of the conventional one. The weight of the aluminum EGR cooler is reduced by 22.9%, while performance is significantly improved.

In 2014, there were approximately 4,762 fatalities on Korean roads. The fatality rate has decreased by 6.5 %, as compared to that of the previous year. The pedestrian-vehicle fatalities (1,795) have also decreased by 6 % over the previous year. However, the percentage of the pedestrian fatalities has increased from 37.9 % to 38.7 % during the same period. This is why further research is required, even though the KNCAP pedestrian safety assessment and KMVSS for pedestrian protection currently exist. This paper studied the Upper Legform to Bonnet Leading Edge Test at the front of the vehicles, which has not been introduced yet in Korea. The test method and procedure of the new BLE test in the Euro NCAP test protocol have been reviewed, and the physical tests on SUV and sedan with different bonnet leading edge heights have also been conducted and reviewed. In addition, the test results and characteristics have been analyzed via comparison with the former BLE test and each vehicle type.

We designed and fabricated the engine oil monitoring sensor to measure engine oil deterioration through increased vehicle mileage. Since the condition of the engine oil can be affected by the state of the vehicle and its operating conditions, it should be directly measured and determined in every vehicle. The fabricated sensor has an aluminum parallel capacitor structure that measures capacitance related with the dielectric constant, which is one of the indices of oil deterioration. The size of the capacitor is small enough that it could be easily adapted on the oil level gauge without introducing any change in the design. The fabricated device is installed in the diesel engine to measure the change in capacitance accurately as the vehicle moved from 0 km (new engine oil state) to 11,364 km. The results showed the maximum value at around 5,000 km, and the values plateaued as mileage increased, corresponding with the measurement result of the TAN (Total Acid Number). Based on the results, the condition of the oil must be monitored regularly though oil change is recommended once the vehicle has traveled the distance of around 10,000 km.

In this work, graphene platelets were introduced into wax in an automotive electronic controlled thermostat for the purpose of enhancing its thermal-conductive property and improving response performance. Graphene content ranging from 10 % to 20% was added into and mixed with the wax to investigate the effect of graphene amounts on the performance of an automotive electronic controlled thermostat in terms of response time, hysteresis and melting temperature. The experimental results revealed that graphene in wax contributed to a reduction in the response time and hysteresis of an automotive electronic controlled thermostat. As a consequence, important improvement in thermal sensitivity, full lift, melting temperature and hysteresis were obtained. The thermal response of wax with graphene content of 20 % was improved by 25 %, as compared to that of wax with Cu content of 20 %. Hysteresis of wax with graphene was reduced by $0.6^{\circ}C$ as compared to that of wax with Cu content. The melting temperature of wax is lowered and hysteresis is also improved with increased graphene content of wax in an electronic controlled thermostat. We hope that this study can help further the transition of nano-fluid technology from small-scale research laboratories to industrial application in the automotive sector.

The door impact beam of the side-impacted vehicle plays a key role in securing occupant safety by preventing intrusion from the impacting vehicle. Despite the low production cost, the press door impact beam has been adopted sparingly because of the strength inferiority. In this study, the design technologies of the press beam aimed at improving bending strength were investigated. First, the effect of the section shape and size was examined. Next, thickness and material strength were increased. Also, the TRB beam application was simulated by varying combined thickness. Some TRB beams with reduced weight exhibited bending strength over the strength of the pipe beam. Then, the beam with a closed center section also showed remarkably enhanced maximum bending strength.

This paper is a study on the bi-directional DC-DC converter, one of the key elements of 48V-12V dual systems in mild hybrid electric vehicles. Mild hybrid electric vehicles require a bi-directional DC-DC converter that can efficiently transmit power in two directions between a 48V battery and a 12V battery. To develop a bi-directional DC-DC converter with better price competitiveness, upgraded fuel economy, excellent performance and smaller size, this study designed, produced and presented a circuit that improved on the existing one. In the proposed 8-phase bi-directional DC-DC converter, the size of the passive element was reduced through the 8-phase interleaved topology, whereas downscaling had previously posed a difficulty. This study also designed and produced a 2.5kW class prototype. Based on the proposed 8-phase interleaved topology, a size of 227.5 (W) * 172 (L) * 64.35 (H) was achieved. In the boost mode operation and buck operation modes, the maximum efficiency was recorded at 94.04 % and 95.78 %, respectively.

For an automotive surveillance radar system, fast-chirp train based FMCW (Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave) radar is a very effective method, because clutter and moving targets are easily separated in a 2D range-velocity map. However, pedestrians with low echo signals may be masked by strong clutter in actual field. To address this problem, we proposed in the previous work a clutter cancellation and moving target indication algorithm using the coherent phase method. In the present paper, we initially composed the test set-up using a 24 GHz FMCW transceiver and a real-time data logging board in order to verify this algorithm. Next, we created two indoor test environments consisting of moving human and stationary targets. It was found that pedestrians and strong clutter could be effectively separated when the proposed method is used. We also designed and implemented these algorithms in FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) in order to analyze the hardware and time complexities. The results demonstrated that the complexity overhead was nearly zero compared to when the typical method was used.

Most commercial vehicles have adopted the hydraulic power steering system. To reduce fuel consumption and to improve steering controllability, a hybrid electric power steering system is being developed for commercial vehicles. In this study, the HILS (Hardware In the Loop Simulation) system equipped with a commercial vehicle hybrid electric power steering system was developed and the vehicle dynamic performance of a truck with the steering system was evaluated. The hybrid electric power steering system is composed of the EHPS motor pump, column mounted EPS system, and ball nut steering gear box for heavy commercial vehicles. The accuracy of vehicle models equipped with the HILS system was verified with comparisons between the simulation results and field test results. The road reaction forces of the steering system were generated from the vehicle model and verified using field test results. Step steering tests using the verified HILS system were carried out and the performance of a newly developed commercial vehicle hybrid electric power steering system was evaluated.

This forged piston is proposed with a lighter weight and higher durability than a gravity casting piston for gasoline engines. However, a forged piston is very difficult to develop and mass-produce due to lack of basic technologies such as design, material and forging technique. First, we benchmarked existing forged pistons according to database design parameters. Second, we evaluated two solidification processes, continuous casting and spray forming, to produce heat-resistant alloy billets for forging. The spray forming process gives better mechanical properties at all temperatures, particularly at elevated temperatures except when poor formability is present. We used DEFORM simulation to determine the optimum process condition with billet from spray forming and successfully commercialized it with LF Sonata HEV.

We suggest a process for the basic software configurations and application development in the mode management design of AUTOSAR-based ECU. Mode management is an essential task and AUTOSAR provides the mode management components for the runtime state handling of an ECU, such as BswM, application mode manager and RTE. BswM is used to meet the custom's requirements for ECU state handling. The behavior of BswM is configured with a set of rules in the form of "if-else" statements, so it is a complicated job and a potential source of errors as the number of rules increases. These difficulties can be overcome using the Model-Based Development approach, which is widely used in the AUTOSAR SW development. An efficient process is proposed to apply the MBD approach to the BswM configuration. An application mode development process is also proposed to improve the mode management design by combining the MBD process. Development tools are developed to adapt these proposed processes to the traditional ones. Simulation and experimental results are provided to prove the feasibility of the proposed approach.